POKEMON DIAMOND, PEARL AND PLATINUM UNDERGROUND GUIDE

So you received the Explorer Kit from the Underground Man? Congratulations, for you are about to venture into the underlayer of Sinnoh: The Underground.

So what is the Underground? For those that don't even have the Explorer Kit yet, you can get it from the Underground Man in Eterna City. You can use the Explorer Kit virtually anywhere outside, and you will be sent to the Underground. When you do, DS wireless communications will be launched so you can explore with friends. Where you land in the Underground depends on where you used your Explorer Kit. Check the Undergound map for locations.

While you are Underground, your undergound map will be located on the top screen and your character will be located on the bottom. Your character's location is marked by a red circle, other players will be marked by an orange cross, while items hidden within the walls will be marked by bursts of orange light. Your secret base will be marked by a red square.

Pushing X will show you not your usual menu, but a special Underground menu. Your Underground inventory is separated into the following menus: Traps, Spheres, Goods, and Treasures. You can select your name to see a list of things you accomplished during your Underground adventure. Choosing "Go Up" will send you back up to the surface.

So what do I do first? You ask? That is up to you. I will show you all the things you can do Underground, and what you do first is solely up to you, but I would recommend doing them in the order I give them to prevent any confusion..

You can complete the Training Missions, which the Underground Man will issue to you. You will be rewarded each time you complete a mission, and it will help you familiarize yourself with the Underground, so I recommend you do this first. Here is a table of the missions he will issue to you, and the reward you get for completing it.

Missions

Rewards

Go undergound (1st test)

Move Trap (up), Bubble Trap, Leaf Trap

Dig up an object (2nd test)

Prism Sphere 1, Red Sphere 1, Blue Sphere 1

Bury a sphere (3rd test)

Digger Drill

Dig out a Secret Base (4th test)

Plain Table, Wooden Chair, Small Bookshelf, Buneary Doll

Decorate the Secret Base (5th test)

A doll Based on your Starter Pokemon

Get Bronze Flag (1 flag)

Pretty Gem

Get Silver Flag (3 flags)

Shiny Gem

Get Gold Flag (10 flags)

Mystic Gem

Get Platinum Flag (50 flags)

Glitter Gem

You can hunt for treasure, which you will find is fun and time consuming if you don't know when to stop! It's easy to get addicted, so watch out! How you find the treasure is to find the treasure hotspots, which are located on the map by the bursts of orange light. Go in those areas and tap on the screen with your stylus. A circle will show up on your screen, like a radar, showing you where on the wall to dig. When you first start, you will notice a wall with different layers of rocks. The darker the texture, the harder it is to pound to the end. The end is where you will find your treasure. Be careful though, because after so many hits, the wall will collapse!

There are many things you can find in the walls. There are two main categories though. One is spheres, (basically your currency for the Underground) which the walls are usually caked with. The bigger the sphere, the less common it usually is. You can get bigger spheres though by burying them into the ground and digging them up later on. The other is other treasure, which consists of everything else. That includes items like revives, shards, plates, heart scales, and even fossils! When you receive the National Dex, you will find more different fossils than before.

After you round up a good haul of treasure, it's time to find out where to spend it all. Now is the time to look for some Undergound Vendors. There's three different kinds of vendors: Goods Vendors, which offer you items for your spheres (the goods are for use for your Secret Base). Trap Vendors offer just that, traps! The last vendor, Treasure Trader, will give you spheres in return of certain goods. Each vendor is different, so do some wandering around to find a vendor you are satisfied with!

Now you may be asking yourself right now, "what are traps and what the heck are they for?". The answer is simple. They are used to vent away pests, namely those who are looking to find your Secret Base and steal your flag. The traps don't really stop people, but they can be a nuisance. Some, you have to blow into the mic. Others, you need to pick at the screen, and then there's some that send you lunging in a certain direction, so watch your step! Traps are identifiable by touching the screen. They show up just like how treasure does.

Now it's about due time to set up a Secret Base, if you haven't already figured it out and done so already. Before you can set up a Secret Base, you need a Digger Drill. You can get one from the Underground Man as a mission reward, or you can get one from a Trap Vendor. When you get one, simply use it on any wall in the Underground. It doesn't matter where you set it, just try to set it in a discreet place.

If you have any goods in your inventory, you can use them to decorate you Secret Base. The possibilities for your Secret Base are endless! By the way, if you are looking to remove some of the boulders from your Secret Base, you will need to upgrate your flag, which you can do from stealing flags from other people's Secret Bases.

You may be wondering what stealing other flags mean. It means simply that. You look for your friends' Secret Bases, sneak in, and steal their flag. The more flags you steal, the more your flag levels up. The higher the level, the more boulders that will be removed from your Secret Base. Here is a table on how many flags to get in order to get that amount of boulders removed.

Flag

Rewards

Bronze (1 flag)

Remove 1 boulder and display 12 decorations

Silver (3 flags)

Remove up to 5 boulders and display 15 decorations

Gold (10 flags)

Remove up to 10 boulders and receive radar functions for your PC

Platinum (50 flags)

Remove all boulders

That's about all there is to it! Hope you have fun exploring the Underground!